5 Questions with Juan Tribaldos

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Juan Tribaldos is a Costa Rican photographer whose work experiments with atmosphere and abstraction, playing with our thresholds of perception.

Inspired by literature, music, travel and cinematography, Juan's images resist the fast pace of contemporary life, transforming ordinary scenes into studies of light, texture and space. Within his work is a quiet focus on emotion and the sentimental impact of place, how our environment can feel, rather than just look.

As well as being a renowned Costa Rican photographer, Juan is also a central figure in Costa Rica’s contemporary art scene. He collaborates with artists and galleries, and his portfolio includes commissioned projects for interior designers and architects. As the co-founder and art director of the Festival de Lumínica in San José, he significantly contributes to Costa Rica’s photography scene.

This week, MÍRAME's Belinda Seppings spoke to him as part of our 5 Questions With series.

As part of his recent residence at independent artist space salita.temporal in San José, Juan is developing a photobook project titled Solve et coagula that turns the camera on the artists’ studios around Costa Rica, focusing on the spaces where artworks are made. The project aims to explore these personal spaces as living archives, repositories of process and memory.

1. Your practice as a Costa Rican photographer often engages with abstraction and light, playing with our perception. How did you first become interested in this approach to photography?

Juan Tribaldos, Liminal I

JT: It all comes down to an intention of capturing my surroundings from a non-conventional perspective. At first, it began as a personal challenge that gradually led me into a technical and conceptual exploration. The idea has always been to present something familiar in new ways, opening space for different readings and perceptions.

2. As part of your recent residency at artist space salita.temporal in downtown San José, you’re working on a photobook project documenting Costa Rican artists’ studios. What drew you to focus on the studio as a subject?

Juan Tribaldos's work at experimental artist space, salita.temporal where the photobook began

JT: I first became interested in studios when I realized how essential they were to my own understanding of an artist’s work. Once I was able to step into these spaces, I felt I could gain a broader perspective on who the artist is and why they create what they do. I was also struck by the fact that these spaces often remain unseen, accessible only to a few. It felt important to document where and how art is produced, and to consider the specific contexts in which these practices unfold.

BS: Juan’s decision to focus on artist studios adds a new dimension to how Costa Rican art can be documented. Instead of polished exhibitions or official images, he is showing the raw, often unseen environments where ideas take shape. In doing so, the project becomes a unique way of spotlighting Costa Rican contemporary art, introducing the “behind the scenes” spaces that are often off-limits to the public, yet are essential to understanding the country’s artist communities.

3. What do you feel the studio reveals that the finished work might not?

JT: I would say it offers a more complete and intimate understanding of who these artists are, how they inhabit their spaces, and how they make them function. Each studio is configured around the work being produced, almost like a personal ecosystem. There’s a kind of programming at play ranging from practical aspects of functionality to the artist’s own personality that permeates the way the space is used.

BS: This way of working connects to broader art-historical traditions, where the studio has long been seen as a practical space and a metaphor for artistic thought. In Costa Rica, where documentation of contemporary art is often limited, Juan’s photographs offer an invaluable record. His perspective as an emerging Costa Rican photographer gives him a unique vantage point to document the communities he is deeply connected to.

Emmanuel Rodriguez Chaves in his studio, photographed by Juan Tribaldos

4. How does the photobook format shape the way you’re thinking about this project compared to your other photographic series?

JT: The photobook format holds particular significance for me. On one hand, it represents the realization of a long-standing ambition to create my first printed editorial work. More importantly, it allows me to frame the project as an archive. In this sense, the book becomes a container for images but also a document that safeguards them. I’m interested in how this format enables preservation, the potential roles these photographs might assume in the future, and the ways in which the project itself will evolve and age over time.

Irene Calderón in her studio, photographed by Juan Tribaldos

5. What do you hope audiences, in Costa Rica and internationally, take away from the photobook once it’s published? Where will it be available?

JT: This is all still to be defined. The working title is Solve et coagula, but this title is more closely tied to my process during the residency at salita temporal, and I’m not yet sure if it will remain the final name.

The project is still at a very early stage, but I’m excited to speak about it and to keep questioning it as the process unfolds.

What I truly hope is that the idea continues to expand, since I see it as an open-ended project. My main wish is for it to reach as many people as possible, physically and digitally, because it feels important to share the immense talent that exists in Costa Rica and the efforts artists here make to produce work within our particular context.

Luciano Goizueta in his studio, photographed by Juan Tribaldos

By creating this photobook, Juan is creating an object that can move between communities and even countries, ensuring that these glimpses into Costa Rica’s artist studios will live on beyond the residency.

It feels like an integral and inventive way to showcase the country’s contemporary artists, through the spaces where their ideas are born. And as an emerging Costa Rican photographer, Juan is using his practice to develop his own voice, but also to support and spotlight his fellow creatives.

As the project develops, we’ll share updates on how and where the book can be seen. For now, Juan’s emphasis on process mirrors the experimental, open-ended energy that continues to drive Costa Rica’s contemporary art scene.

Read more about the project by visiting Juan's website.

Portrait of Juan Tribaldos

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5 Questions with Juan Tribaldos | Costa Rican photographer | Photobook Project

Images copyright: Juan Tribaldos